Loess containing cigarette and method for producing the same

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a loess containing cigarette comprised of a tobacco part and a filter that contain respectively sintered loess powder and sintered granular loess particles, in which tobacco fragrance has been absorbed. The loess containing cigarette can reduce inspiration amount of harmful materials through absorbing and filtering the harmful materials by means of the porous structure of loess, and is highly liked by smokers because tobacco fragrance component is emitted slowly. It is also good for promoting health because of the emission of far infrared rays and efficacious component of the herb material. According to the method for producing loess containing cigarette, as it is simple to add tobacco fragrance and loss of fragrance component can be reduced, the method for producing loess containing cigarette is useful in economic aspect.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a loess containing cigarette and method for producing the same, and more particularly to a loess containing cigarette and method for producing the same, in which a cigarette has been produced through absorbing fragrance added to tobacco into sintered loess powder and granular loess particles, and containing them into a filter and a tobacco part. 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0003] As generally known in the art, several organic harmful materials and heavy metals have been contained in tobacco so that they concentrate in lungs and kidneys of a smoker to become causes of a cancer.

[0004] Specifically, nicotine that is harmful material and is comprised in the amount of 2 mg per a fill of tobacco promotes rising of blood pressure and aging, and tar that is comprised in the amount of 2.0 to 3.3 mg per a fill of tobacco becomes a mighty carcinogenic material.

[0005] Further, carbon monoxide (CO) that is comprised in the amount of 2 to 6% in a cloud of smoke induces toxication of carbon monoxide, because it has chemical affinities 210 times bigger than that of oxygen with regard to hemoglobin. Heavy metals that are comprised in a fill of tobacco, such as cadmium (Cd) being comprised in the amount of 1 to 2 mg/kg, copper being comprised in the amount of 10 to 20 mg/kg, lead being comprised in the amount of 1 to 3 mg/kg, zinc being comprised in the amount of 30 to 50 mg/kg, etc. cause serious troubles of health for human body.

[0006] As inspiration of the harmful materials of tobacco produced during the smoking and the cloud of smoke emitted by the smoker have seriously threatened the health of the non-smoker as well as that of the smoker, every country has not only suppressed sales of cigarette, but has protected health of the peoples of his country by prohibiting pollution of the raw leaf tobacco, and developing several functional filters and smokeless cigarettes.

[0007] Conventional cigarette has been comprised of a tobacco part wherein fragrance added to tobacco such as chocolate fragrance, vanilla fragrance, menthol fragrance, cherry fragrance, lemon fragrance and the other fruit fragrance have been added to the cut tobacco to make it possible to inspire tobacco fragrance at the time of smoking, and a filter that filtrates harmful component such as nicotine, tar, and etc., in the cloud of smoke when smoking by adding porous material such as activated carbon or zeolite to the filter.

[0008] However, the activated carbon and the zeolite that have been used as porous absorbent in the filter to filtrate harmful material are high in production cost, and additional process to insert them between the tobacco part and the filter is required. Further it has not been satisfactory to remove harmful material of tobacco by means of the activated carbon and the zeolite.

[0009] Also, according to conventional method of adding fragrance to the tobacco, the tobacco fragrance has vanished after one or two days from the opening of the tobacco case so that the cigarette lose its function as a fragrant tobacco. Further, the fragrance component itself has been removed or has become pyrolysis by means of heat to result in the malfunction of the fragrant tobacco.

[0010] Korean patent No. 10-0289261 (Korean patent application No. 10-1998-0054034) has been filed and registered as a Korea patent by the same applicant of this application to improve removing efficiency of the above noted harmful materials contained in the tobacco. According to the above Korean patent, there has been provided a loess-containing cigarette produced through the following process. After conciliating leaf tobacco in a certain humidity to maintain it uniformly, it is made into cut tobacco in certain size, and then aqueous loess solution is sprayed over the cut tobacco or loess has been made into minute granules, finally granular loess is contained in the filter to filtrate tar and nicotine, etc. through the loess component contained in the tobacco during the inspiration of the cloud of smoke.

[0011] Generally, loess is an inorganic ceramic and is chemically stable and has characteristics that it does not chemically react with organic substance. Also, when it is heated to over 1200° C., the color changes and it melts. Further, it is not harmful to human body because it has no poisonous property and has not any stimulus material. From the ancient times, loess has been used to heal wound caused from a burn by applying kneaded loess, and loess water (also known as Jijangsu) has been used for internal diseases.

[0012] Also, pottery made of loess has been used for ferment and digest pickled vegetables (Kimchi), soy sauce and soybean paste (toenjang), etc., and loess cavern has been used for persons to treat several diseases or incurable diseases. In the case of the oral diseases such as rashes on tongues, they can be healed by licking long standing loess wall.

[0013] According to ancient Korean medical textbooks such as “Dongeuibogam (=Oriental Medical Thesaurus)” written by Heo-jun, “Hyangyakjipseongbang (=Local Medicines Collections)” written by Park-yunduck, etc., and “Jeungryuboncho (=Distillation Herbal Medicines)”, etc., loess does not have any toxins and it is stable, further it has genial, poison neutralizing and sedation property, and the therapeutic effects are good for the spleen and the stomach so that it is efficacious for vomiting due to hot weather when the liquefied loess solution is drunk, and it is efficacious for dysentery, tumor, and contusion, and has been used for abscess on the back, neutralizing poisonous mushrooms, and poisoning of globefish eggs.

[0014] Loess is produced from weathering of rock and gathered at mountains and fields, and is comprised of 40 to 80 weight % of quartz, 10 to 20 weight % of felspar and mica, 5 to 35 weight % of carbonate minerals, and 2 to 5 weight % of silt. The silt is comprised of heavy minerals such as amphibole, apatite, biotite, chlorite, cyanite, epidote, garnet, pyroxene, rutile, silimanite, staurolite, tourmaline, zircon, etc., wherein the fine granule of the loess is comprised of clayey minerals such as montmorillonite, illite, and kaolinite, etc., as principal component.

[0015] The minute granule component of loess has a very high absorption property and reactivity because it has porous structure and very large surface area. Specifically, the montmorillonite has a very high cation exchangeability ranging from 80 to 150 meq/100 g.

[0016] Also, it has been known from lots of studies and developments in the related technical field that far infrared rays profitable to human body have been emitted by actions of different inorganic materials contained in loess.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0017] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art by the present inventors as a result of continuous studies and developments. The loess containing cigarette of the present invention has been made through absorbing fragrance added to tobacco in porous materials such as loess instead of adding directly fragrance to the conventional tobacco thereby to construct a tobacco part and a filter of the cigarette, wherein the liking property of the cigarette can be enhanced and the smoker and the indirect smoker can be protected from harmful materials contained in the cigarette through absorption and filtering of harmful materials by means of the porous structure of loess, and far infrared rays profitable to human body are emitted through actions of the inorganic substances contained in loess and the health of the people can be promoted as efficacious component of herb material may be inspired by people after herb medical treatment of the herb material extract.

[0018] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a loess containing cigarette that can be highly preferred by people and can reduce harmful property of the cigarette to human body.

[0019] Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a loess containing cigarette.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

[0021] The loess containing cigarette of the present invention is produced by containing sintered loess powder and granular sintered particles of loess in which fragrance added to tobacco has been absorbed in a tobacco part and a filter of the cigarette.

[0022] According to the present invention, since fragrance component of the tobacco has been added to the tobacco part and the filter after being absorbed in porous loess instead of adding it directly to the tobacco or the filter, harmful material can be effectively absorbed and removed, and liking property of tobacco has been enhanced and health promotion effects such as far infrared rays emission, etc., can be obtained.

[0023] The sintered loess powder and the granular loess particles contained in the loess containing cigarette of the present invention are characterized in that they are added in the amount of 1 to 50 weight % based on the total weight composed of the tobacco part and the filter. When they have been added below 1 weight %, removal efficiency for nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide (CO) is weak, and when they have been added above 50 weight %, it is not preferable because inspiration amount of them is so low that taste of tobacco will be lowered.

[0024] “Fragrance added to tobacco” used in the specification of the present invention comprises general tobacco fragrance such as chocolate fragrance, vanilla fragrance, menthol fragrance, cherry fragrance, lemon fragrance, and other fruit fragrance, and herb material extract. The herb material extracts can comprise hot water extracts or organic solvent extracts of one or at least two mixtures selected from the group consisting of perfumery such as clove buds, elecampane, frankincense, aloeswood, fennel, coco grass, aristolochia contorta bunge, betony, camphor perfume, peppermint, red sandalwood, benzoin, musk, etc., and cinnamon; and the group consisting of dried ginger, root of angelicadahurica, ledebourieella, asiasari radix, core of cinnamon, angelica tenuissima, aralia continentalis, chinese ground orchid, realgar, atractyodis rhizoma, myrrh, zanthoxyli pericarpium, garlic, yellow beeswax, sulfur, and ginseng. These herb materials can promote health of the smoker because peculiar fragrance and medical actions of the herb materials have been contained in the cigarette. Further, smokers can take pleasures in several varied tastes and fragrance of the cigarette according to their likings through choosing faint fragrance of loess and various tobacco fragrance component and mixing such components in various ratios.

[0025] According to the present invention, sintered granular loess loess particle can be used with the conventional activated carbon and zeolite constituting the conventional filter of the cigarette, however it can substitute for the activated carbon and zeolite to reduce production cost.

[0026] According to the loess containing cigarette of the above construction, as the tobacco fragrance has been absorbed in the porous structure of the activated carbon, zeolite, and loess to be emitted slowly, the tobacco fragrance can be maintained for a long time. Before smoking, at the temperature range of 50 to 120° C., added fragrance is naturally emitted with far infrared rays of loess itself by the heat produced during igniting and sucked into human body, and harmful materials such as nicotine, tar and heavy metals, etc. are absorbed and filtered by means of vacant pores produced by the emitted fragrance components to result in the reduction of injuries of the smoker and the indirect smoker.

[0027] In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a loess containing cigarette, comprising the steps of:

[0028] (a) sintering loess powder after mixing and kneading loess powder with water,

[0029] (b) obtaining the loess powder through pulverizing the sintered loess products,

[0030] (c) making loess containing cut tobacco through absorbing fragrance added to tobacco in the sintered loess powder and adding the sintered loess powder to the cut tobacco,

[0031] (d) granulating the sintered loess products obtained at step (a),

[0032] (e) making loess containing filter through absorption of fragrance added to tobacco into the sintered granular loess particles or porous materials and insertion of them into the cigarette filter,

[0033] (f) combining the loess containing cut tobacco obtained at step (c) with loess containing filter obtained at step (e).

[0034] Further, at the step (a) of the above producing method, the loess powder is made through washing gathered loess and crushing it finely into pieces having particle size below 100 μm, and the amount of the powder mixed with water is determined in such range as kneading is easy. The sintering process of the present invention is performed at temperature ranging from 1000 to 1300° C. to remove impurities in loess and to enhance porosity of the loess powder. When the sintering temperature is below 1000° C., sintering of loess is not satisfactory, and when the sintering temperature is over 1300° C., color of loess changes and the loess dissolves to result in the decrease of the porosity of loess.

[0035] At the step (b), the crushing process of the sintered products increases surface area of loess, and it is performed to obtain particle size of the loess powder ranging from 0.5 to 5 μm to mix it uniformly during the production of cut tobacco at the step (c).

[0036] The fragrance absorbed at steps (c) and (e) includes herb material extract in addition to the general tobacco fragrance such as chocolate fragrance, vanilla fragrance, menthol fragrance, cherry fragrance, lemon fragrance, and other fruit fragrances. The herb material can comprise hot water extracts or organic solvent extract of one or at least two mixtures selected from the group consisting of perfumery such as clove buds, elecampane, frankincense, aloeswood, fennel, coco grass, aristolochia contorta bunge, betony, camphor perfume, peppermint, red sandalwood, benzoin, musk, etc., and cinnamon; and the group consisting of dried ginger, root of angelicadahurica, ledebourieella, asiasari radix, core of cinnamon, angelica tenuissima, aralia continentalis, chinese ground orchid, realgar, atractyodis rhizoma, myrrh, zanthoxyli pericarpium, garlic, yellow beeswax, sulfur, and ginseng.

[0037] Also, the absorption of the tobacco fragrance is characterized by absorbing the added fragrance component in pores of loess particles by means of deposition method wherein added fragrance are heated and vaporized, or in the case of the herb extracts, after they are mixed and kneaded with sintered loess products or porous substances, the absorption of the tobacco fragrance is performed through drying and crushing of them. Further, the tobacco fragrance can be added to at any steps of producing cut tobacco or leaf tobacco in condition that efficacy and component of loess can be utilized sufficiently.

[0038] The granulation of sintered loess products can be performed to have particle size of 200 to 500 μm at the step (d).

[0039] The porous substance described in step (e) comprises activated carbon and zeolite constituting the conventional filter. According to an indirect method of absorbing the tobacco fragrance in the porous substance, it is simple to add fragrance. Further, the tobacco fragrance component has been absorbed in the porous substance and it is emitted slowly so that the tobacco fragrance can be maintained for a long time.

[0040] The combination of the tobacco and the filter at step (f) is performed through conventional process of producing cigarette.

[0041] According to the method for producing the loess containing cigarette of the present invention, it is possible to produce a cigarette having different tastes and flavors in accordance with the likings of the people because the cigarette has faint fragrance originated from loess and has selected various tobacco fragrance components.

[0042] Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be described. However, the present invention is not limited by the examples.

EXAMPLES Example 1

[0043] Production of Loess Containing Cigarette Wherein Menthol Fragrance has been Absorbed

[0044] After crushing the gathered natural loess minutely (average particle size: 10 μm) into pieces, the crushed loess has been assorted by means of a screen, and washed, and then kneaded with adding water. Next, the kneaded loess has been sintered in a heating furnace of 1200° C. to result in the production of sintered loess products, then part of the sintered loess products have been charged into a crusher and crushed into sintered loess powders (particle size: 1 to 1.5 μm), and part of the sintered loess products have been produced into sintered granular loess particles (particle size: 200 to 500 μm). Menthol fragrance has been deposited to the obtained sintered loess particles, and the produced sintered loess particles have been added by 10 weight % to the cut tobacco based on the total weight to result in the production of the loess containing cigarette.

[0045] Then, absorbents made by absorption of the menthol fragrance in the granular loess particles have been inserted to the conventional filter of the tobacco to produce loess containing filter.

[0046] The loess containing cigarette of the present invention has been produced through combining the obtained loess containing tobacco and the loess containing filter by means of the conventional producing method of cigarette.

Example 2

[0047] Loess Containing Cigarette Containing Ginseng Extract

[0048] Ginseng extract has been used instead of the menthol fragrance, and it has been mixed and kneaded with sintered loess products, and then dried and crushed to produce sintered loess powder and sintered loess particles instead of employing the deposition method to produce loess containing cigarette by performing the same process as described in example 1 without adding the obtained sintered loess particles and the sintered loess powder to the tobacco and the filter.

[0049] Valuation Test

[0050] Contents of nicotine and tar in the obtained loess containing cigarette produced from examples 1 and 2 have been valuated, and the obtained cigarettes have been tested by 10 smokers to valuate the smoking effects. As a result of valuation, contents of nicotine and tar have been lowered considerably, and the loess containing cigarettes have been better in the likings such as tastes and fragrance of the cigarette than any other conventional cigarettes in sale.

[0051] The advantages obtained from the loess containing cigarette of the present invention will be described below.

[0052] According to the loess containing cigarette of the present invention, because harmful materials to be inspired by the smokers will be absorbed and filtered by means of the porous structure of loess, etc., contents of harmful materials to be inspired by smokers can be considerably lowered, and taste and fragrance of the cigarette can be maintained for a long time because added fragrance component will be emitted slowly. Also, health of smokers can be promoted because efficacious component of the herb material extract and far infrared rays emitted by means of actions of inorganic substance contained in loess can be inspired by them.

[0053] Also, the loess containing cigarette of the present invention is preferable in economic aspect such as reduction of production cost, because the activated carbon or zeolite that is high in cost and used in the conventional filter can be substituted for loess that is resourceful in deposits or decreased in combination ratios.

[0054] Further, according to the producing method for the loess containing cigarette of the present invention, because it is simple to add tobacco fragrance and the tobacco fragrance component will be emitted slowly due to their deposition in the porous material to result in the reduction of amount of fragrance component added to the tobacco.

[0055] Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A loess containing cigarette comprised of a tobacco part and a filter, wherein sintered loess powder and sintered granular loess particles are respectively contained in the tobacco part and the filter, and tobacco fragrance being absorbed in the sintered loess powder and sintered loess particles.
 2. The loess containing cigarette according to claim 1, wherein the sintered loess powder and the sintered granular loess particles are added in the amounts of 1 to 50 weight % based on the total weight composed of the tobacco part and the filter.
 3. The loess containing cigarette according to claim 1, wherein the tobacco fragrance comprises one or at least two materials selected from the group consisting of chocolate fragrance, vanilla fragrance, menthol fragrance, cherry fragrance, lemon fragrance, and herb material extract.
 4. The loess containing cigarette according to claim 3, wherein the herb material extract comprises one or at least two materials selected from the group consisting of clove buds, elecampane, frankincense, aloeswood, fennel, coco grass, aristolochia contorta bunge, betony, camphor fragrance, peppermint, red sandalwood, benzoin, musk, etc., and cinnamon, dried ginger, root of angelicadahurica, ledebourieella, asiasari radix, core of cinnamon, angelica tenuissima, aralia continentalis, chinese ground orchid, realgar, atractyodis rhizoma, myrrh, zanthoxyli pericarpium, garlic, yellow beeswax, sulfur, ginseng.
 5. A method for producing a loess containing cigarette, comprising the steps of: (a) sintering loess powder after mixing and kneading the loess powder with water, (b) obtaining the loess powder through pulverizing the sintered loess products, (c) making loess containing cut tobacco through absorbing tobacco fragrance in the sintered loess powder and adding the sintered powder to the cut tobacco, (d) granulating the sintered loess products obtained at step (a), (e) making loess containing filter through absorbing tobacco fragrance in the granular sintered loess particles or porous materials and inserting them into the cigarette filter, (f) combining the loess containing cut tobacco obtained at step (c) with loess containing filter obtained at step (e).
 6. The method for producing a loess containing cigarette according to claim 5, wherein the sintering step (a) is performed at temperature of 1000 to 1300° C.
 7. The method for producing a loess containing cigarette according to claim 5, wherein the sintered loess powder produced at step (b) have particle size of 0.5 to 5 μm.
 8. The method for producing a loess containing cigarette according to claim 5, wherein the tobacco fragrance has been absorbed to sintered loess powder or sintered loess particles at steps (c) and (e) by means of heating and vaporizing the tobacco fragrance component, or by means of mixing and kneading the tobacco fragrance component with the sintered loess products or porous materials, and followed drying and crushing of the resultant products.
 9. The method for producing a loess containing cigarette according to claim 5, wherein the particle size of the sintered granular loess particles is in the range of 200 to 500 μm.
 10. The method for producing a loess containing cigarette according to claim 5, wherein the porous materials of step (e) comprises activated carbon or zeolite or at least two materials selected from the group consisting of sintered loess particles, activated carbon, and zeolite. 